Printing using Template

c# .net printing

11,055

Solution 1

We endet up using the format of the EPSON TM-Intelligent series.

Solution 2

Create your own receipt template using html or plain text.

Example using html:

HTML

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Receipt</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div>The price: <%Price%></div>
    <div>The time: <%Time%></div>
    <div>Payment Method: <%PaymentMethod%></div>
  </body>
</html>

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        CreateReceipt("€1.50", "09.30", "Cash");
    }

    private static void CreateReceipt(string price, string time, string paymentMethod)
    {
        string bodyFile;
        string template = System.IO.Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + "\\template.html";
        using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(template))
        {
            bodyFile = reader.ReadToEnd();
            bodyFile = bodyFile.Replace("<%Price%>", price);
            bodyFile = bodyFile.Replace("<%Time%>", time);
            bodyFile = bodyFile.Replace("<%PaymentMethod%>", paymentMethod);
        }
        FileStream fs = File.OpenWrite(System.IO.Directory.GetCurrentDirectory() + "\\receipt.html");
        StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(fs, Encoding.UTF8);
        writer.Write(bodyFile);
        writer.Close();
    }
}

Solution 3

Use Mustache to create HTML templates and populate them.

The .Net interfaces are very easy to use.

Once you've got the HTML, you can use a WebBrowser control - offscreen - to print.

Solution 4

There are various ways;

Create a text file and search and replace keywords with appropriate values. Save/Print this.

Create a html file and search and replace keywords with appropriate values. Save/Print this.

Create a PDF file with built-in fields and replace these with appropriate values. Save/Print this.

And more...

Solution 5

Just for an Idea if you haven't seen this, You can print HTML DIV

How do I print part of a rendered HTML page in JavaScript?

View more solutions

11,055

Author by

Philippe

Updated on June 15, 2022

Comments

Philippe almost 2 years

For a simple reciept system I need to somehow define a template document with simple formatting, fill it with data and print it on a standard windows printer. It has to work on a windows service. What technology should I best use?

EDIT:

I tried using PDF-Forms. I defined a couple of text boxes and filled them in with iTextSharp. It worked until the point where I had to print them, which is really hard, as you have to essentially use the reader executable directly.

An alternative which seems to be better integrated into .NET seems to be to use XPS. Does XPS provide a similar functionality?
Philippe almost 11 years

Well I don't really want to write that stuff myself. Also how would I print this afterwards? Is there a way to use something like Razor and then print it out?
Naomi Owens almost 11 years

See edit. The method will now use the template.html to create a new file called receipt.html with whatever parameters are passed to it. I'm not familiar with Razor.